The water is fine at the Estes Park Aquatic Center

'A' for Aquatic

Children splash and play at the Estes Park Aquatic Center, which remains a safe and healthy environment, isolated from the rest of the old elementary school, in which mold has been detected.

Officials from the Park R-3 school district assure the public that they should come on in, the water is fine at the Aquatic Center, and they can have a clean, healthy swim. Although walk-throughs of the old elementary school building by professionals from RLH Engineering and the Colorado Hazard Control have found mold, caused by leaking roofs, in samplings from other areas of the old school building, they said the Aquatic Center remains unaffected by any potential health hazards and mold growth, because it is isolated from the areas where the mold has sprouted.

Chuck Jordan of RLH told the board of education at their Monday work session that the pool and gym are sufficiently isolated from the art room, where the majority of the mold samples were found, and there doesn't appear to be any spreading or growing toward the pool area. There is no additional moisture coming through the roof there, either, he said.

School board president Todd Jirsa said the pool has not been impacted, because it is in a separate building. He asked Jordan whether there would be any concerns down the line for the pool area. Jordan replied it is hard to speculate, and it depends on the amount of moisture we get.

"As long as the roof keeps leaking," he said, "we are in a triage situation."

It's necessary to get the leaks stopped in the school's roof, he said. Now, the situation for the pool looks pretty good, but when the weather is wet, mold in the school will grow.

Dave Coleson, director of maintenance and operations for the school district, said the mold is "active.

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" If the board continues to wait to decide what to do with the building, numbers will grow, both in mold spread and the cost to abate it.

Jirsa promised to provide directions for the building's demise/rebuild before his term on the board expires in November of 2013. Board members have been talking about the issue since 2004, he said, and he had hoped long before now to have a solution.

"This board will take action on this before November of next year," he emphasized.

Coleson said he and Jordan performed walk-arounds through the old elementary school and there were areas of water damage and water issues, especially in the art room area. Jordan took six samples for mold, which Coleson said "showed positive for a mold we don't want to have." Jordan said samples of the ceiling tiles that had collapsed to the floor in the art room area had mold spores growing on them. In other areas, there was algae he described as "benign," but showing there is significant moisture for it to grow.

Board member Tony Paglia tried to pin numbers down, by asking whether it would be better to rebuild the building, using the foundation, or start over with a new building. Jordan said the first thing is to fix the roof, if you want to keep the building. That will probably amount to a full replacement job. If the board can get a program (community center, etc.) that would fit within the building, it "may be worth saving." However, it's a large project and would require the ripping out of all the ceilings and replacing them. It would also require asbestos and mold abatement and cleanup, which gets expensive, he said. Then, there's the replacement of electrical and HVAC systems, starting up mechanical systems, recharging the plumbing system, putting the finishes back in. He estimated the roof would cost $500,000 to $1 million, with another $1 million for abatement. Asked what parts of the building remain usable, he said the foundation, roof structure and walls could be salvaged.

Jordan explained it is much easier to define the costs for a new project, versus a renovation project. He estimated that a new school project might cost $250 a square foot for construction. School superintendent Patrick Hickey said that is significantly higher than he would have expected, which might be $170 a square foot. Jordan said the prices of construction and commodities are starting to pick up, and inflation is factoring in again.

Hickey said that there are objective and subjective components to the board's decision, regarding cleanup/rebuild or tearing down and starting over, there will likely be code issues involved and community concerns.

Paglia asked whether trying to build a program around a building is what the board wants. Board member Dr. Marie C. Richardson observed what matters is "not what we want; it's what the community wants."

Jirsa asked Jordan whether the issue can wait another six months, since the old school's been in retirement about eight years now. Jordan replied that in six more months, we would probably not witness the mold that ate Estes Park, but he cautioned that the situation is not getting any better. Water has probably filtered into 25 percent of the surface under the roof, he said, and that number will creep up to 30 to 35 percent by next spring.

Jirsa said that at the board's next meeting, Jan. 28, 2013, they will have a real conversation about what to do and how to involve the community in the process.

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